Amazon Customer
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-This beats hand washing by a mile. Do not expect a fully automated machine because this a glorified "hand" washing bucket. If you want 100% automated you need to look at the other products on the market. For this mini machine, you still have to manually fill, drain, and spin-wring "dry" to get the water out of the clothes.
-The shipping box is not hidden, so you can see COSTCO on it (warning if you trying to be conspicuous). The lid of my machine is a tiny bit cracked but doesn't affect the function. I will be reaching out to the company.
-I've only used this for 2 days (6 loads), so I cannot attest to the longevity of the machine (I hope it lasts). Each load can handle a certain weight of clothing (specified in the description). I eye-balled it and went with what I thought was appropriate to allow for space to clean and water to move around. If the items are too heavy you will hear the motor struggle. An example, I was able to wash 3 gym shorts, 3 tank tops, 2 t-shirts, and 3 pairs of socks with no problem. I've also washed jeans, towels, and sweaters.
Few warnings:
-The machine does rock a little bit when washing and you must be careful to balance the clothes evenly when using the spinner (just like a regular washing machine).
-The black feet on the machine leaves black marks on the tub (i didn't have a problem cleaning it after), but I recommend putting it on a mat instead of directly on the tub.
-The machine causes a lot of lint to collect on the clothes so I use a reusable lint remover to get the lint off. It's another trade-off. Other machines have a lint trap but are bigger machines.
-The hose that comes with it is a cheap plastic hose, but they sell better quality hoses on amazon for a cheap price.
-Pre-Soak: This machine works within reason. If you have very soiled clothing, you must pre-soak it. You can soak it in the machine or somewhere else then transfer the clothes to the machine.
-You will likely need an extension cord to reach an outlet.
You can stop reading from here if you know how this thing works...
How it works:
-Simple enough, you fill it with water and you drain it by the drain hose. The hose works by gravity so your mini-machine needs to be higher than where you are draining the water into. Check out youtube videos for a tutorial!
-Only use 1-3 tablespoons of detergent
-The machine alternates spinning clockwise and counterclockwise during the washing cycle as a way to slosh around the clothes to clean it. There is a 10-minute washing timer and a 5-minute spin "dry" timer. The knob function is simple. You turn it to the time you want to use and you can manually turn it to 0 if you want to prematurely stop it. The spin basket is smaller so you will not be able to fit all the clothes you washed into the spin basket (you will have to do multiple loads to spin), but it's a trade-off for the small footprint machine.
Where to use it:
I've tested the machine in two settings and both work fine.
1) In the bathtub and by filling it up with a bucket (much faster in my opinion).
2) In the kitchen attached to the sink faucet with draining into a bucket.
-As long as you keep the water within the min and max lines, the water is contained well within the machine so you don't have to worry about spilling water everywhere.
-The instructions recommend to do it in the bathtub to be safe. If you choose to do it anywhere besides in the tub, you will have to drain the water into a bucket.
-When putting it in the bathtub, I simply put it in the tub and let the hose down whenever I need to drain it. There is no concern about the cord hitting the water.
My person recommendation:
For washing: I usually set it twice (20-minutes) for my first round of cleaning or Then I go through one cycle for rinsing. I have purchased washer silicon machine balls to throw in and agitate the water more, but it's not necessary. I've done a few loads without and the clothes are very clean.
For spinning: I fill up the basket about halfway, put the plastic accessory on top of the clothes to keep them from flying away, and set the spin timer. One spin cycle gets the clothes to a point better than I could get it with wringing by hand.
KAYLEA FLEMING